Reblogging Julia

Off to brunch with my college roommate downtown!

She’s a kindred spirit (Green Gables alert!)
I sent her this email on May 3, 2003 

Dear [redacted],

I don’t tell you this nearly enough, but you are absolutely one of the best friends I have ever had—and no doubt, my best friend at Georgetown. You may not realize how much I appreciate you—in fact, I’m sure you don’t, and that’s mainly my fault. I know I must be a handful to deal with, and probably more so with you than anyone else – it sounds odd, but that’s probably the biggest compliment I could give you. what I mean is, the person I am with you is me, unvarnished, uncovered, sometimes unmannered J … and unfortunately that means that sometimes I’m not as careful with your feelings as I should be. I can be cranky, I have problems, you’ve seen it all. I suppose it comes closest to waking up next to someone with absolutely no makeup – except they don’t have perfect skin. You know my flaws and you not only put up with them, you have helped me in ways so significant you may never realize their full impact upon my life. That I have been able to finally deal with my bulimia is in large part due to talking with you about it and to your understanding and steadfast encouragement. How can I possibly thank you for all the times you’ve been there?

This year has been so incredible, and you’ve been a huge part of that—an integral part of that. You once asked me why I always pressed you into doing this event or that; you thought that perhaps it was because you were a pushover and I found it easy to cajole you into doing things my way. You couldn’t have been more mistaken. I want you to do these things because I have an infinitely better time when you’re with me. how much have we done together this year? From Halloween’s saran wrap to making the movie with alex to countless hung-over Einstein’s breakfasts to our med-school fetish to our preppy friends to our new freshman “internationals” to lunches in darnall to discussing men, dating and my columns (endlessly) to hearing about math tutoring gossip to talking about our families and upbringings to dealing with depression, bulimia and our respective weight issues to living together – this year and next … [redacted], you are the constant in my life this last year, and I can’t imagine what it would have been without you.

How ironic that our paths crossed the way they did, but you and I make a great team. I very much look forward to another semester of living with you, and will miss you terribly this summer and next spring.

You have earned my respect, my trust, and my love. I am very proud to call you my friend.

julia

— juliaallison

It was difficult to pick a jumping off point for the inaugural post of JA blog analysis, as God knows, she provides ample material. We shall start with this post, as it captures the essence of Ms. Baugher so perfectly. For the newly initiated, the foregoing is a rough translation from Allison-speak.

“You are one of my best friends because you love me. Me, me, me. You did this for me, you did that for me. You have taken an interest in me, and that is the absolute necessary first step for all of my friends. You deal with me, you listen to me, you indulge my permanent state of self-absorption, and I dig that about you!  I am the most ‘me’ with you, and that makes me happy about me, and you get the benefit of that. And hey, here’s where I will bring up bullimia again, and how you listened to me talk about how much I threw up but didn’t want to, but damn if it didn’t help me stay thin so I could post pictures of myself. Thanks again for taking as intense of an interest in myself as I do. Oh, and I’m sure you have your own amazing qualities, independent of what you do for me, but, as I am sure you know by now, I cannot be distracted by such things when I am focused so intently on me. BFF!”